Home / National News / Hiker falls to his death from Yosemite National Park’s famed Half Dome

Hiker falls to his death from Yosemite National Park’s famed Half Dome

May 23, 2018

(MARIPOSA, Calif.) — A hiker slipped and fell to his death Monday while climbing Yosemite National Park’s famous Half Dome trail, officials said.

The man was ascending the Half Dome cables with another hiker during a thunderstorm when he slipped and fell off the rock formation Monday afternoon, according to the U.S. National Park Service. The metal cables take hikers up the last 400 feet of granite to the summit of Half Dome, which is nearly 5,000 feet above California’s Yosemite Valley.

Park rangers were notified and found his body around 1 p.m. local time. The man’s identity will be released after his family is notified, according to the National Park Service.

Park rangers also provided assistance to the second hiker on the Half Dome cables.

The National Park Service said in a statement Tuesday that the cause of the incident remains under investigation.

It’s the first death on the Half Dome cables since 2011 and the first visitor fatality of this year.